Year
2003
Abstract
High-resolution commercial satellite imagery is an ideal source for nuclear site mapping applications due to its sub-meter level positioning capability, availability, global coverage and reliable repeatability. Traditionally, mapping has been considered as a sophisticated process, which requires well trained specialists as well as specialized photogrammetric mapping software and systems. With the development of rational functions based senor models (RFM), mapping from commercial satellite images becomes straightforward, fast, robust and economic. This paper presents an introduction to this new mapping technology, as well as a new software tool, Rational Mapper. With real data in various case studies, we will demonstrate various mapping capabilities achieved by this software system. The results show that rational mapping technology offers fast and economic approach for site mapping from commercial high-resolution satellite images.